This last Sunday morning dawned dark and damp, but thank goodness the temperature stayed above freezing so we had a safe drive to Brattleboro, Vermont, with just some fog to slow us down slightly. We hit the road at 6am to meet the Rescue Riders transport truck to pick up our new puppy, Luke. Luke had been on the road since Saturday morning when he was picked up all the way down in Alabama!
- The transport truck.
This was our first experience rescuing a puppy, and what a great one it has been so far. The truck was punctual and we were amongst a group of about 20 people waiting to meet their new family members and take them home. We somehow ended up being picked first out of the crowd, handed over our paperwork, and told her we were there to meet “Goblin” which was Luke’s foster name. There he is, and his little tail is wagging away!
And finally in my arms, after weeks of waiting!
The rest of the crowd was waiting for their new family members, and as we headed to our car one nice woman offered to take a photo of my hubby and me with Luke.
We got into the car and spent a few minutes just playing with him and letting him get comfortable. He quickly relaxed with us and is such a snuggler!
For the drive home we had brought a crate to keep him safe. We weren’t sure how that was going to go over. We gave him some water and he quickly grabbed one of the toys that we had put in there. After just a couple minutes of whining, he settled down and fell asleep for the whole hour and a half ride home!
He has settled into his new home fairly quickly. His new siblings haven’t exactly given him a “warm welcome” but they are getting used to him. They mostly just try to steer clear of him but I think in time they will adjust. I had a family party I had to go to later that day, so Dad stayed home and helped him settle in.
Monday morning he had his first trip to our vet and we were thrilled when our vet said that as well as the Labrador Retriever in Luke that we know of from his Mom, he thinks there might be some hound dog (beagle/hound dog lovers that we are we love that idea)! He also thinks judging by his size that he’s going to be a very big boy, possibly up to 100 pounds. Oh boy!
He has been sleeping in his crate in our bedroom and also has done very well with that. We get up once in the night with him and then we’re up early in the morning. Last night my two sisters and my brother-in-law came over to meet him and he did very well.
He plays for a while but often settles down on his own.
The other dogs stayed away from him completely to begin with, but little by little they are relaxing more with him. They are all older dogs, so all that puppy energy can be overwhelming!
My hubby and I are both on vacation from work for 2 weeks to get us all through this transition period. All of our Christmas socializing is over so for Christmas Day we should be able to just have a relaxing (well, more or less) day at home.
We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! I know that I’m behind on visiting everyone else’s blogs, but I decided to mostly just take the last couple of days off from it with everything else going on. I’ll be by soon!
I’m so glad you’re able to use your time to help him settle in! I’m sure the rest of the herd will get used to him in no time… Lucas and Emmett were SO annoyed with Cooper (puppies are kind of annoying, after all) but it didn’t take too long before they welcomed him with open paws! I’m so happy you had such a wonderful Christmas with the new pup. We had to travel – boo. – and missed these guys tremendously! I’m spending the next three days we have off doing nothing but snuggling the heck out of them!!
Puppies are very persistent, that’s for sure, and I do understand why the other dogs get so annoyed! We can already see them relaxing more around him, and see him giving them a break at times.
Enjoy your three days at home! I’m so glad we were able to be home with ours, it made for a very special Christmas.
I’m so happy for you that he’s home and doing so well. When Küster came home, I decided that I didn’t want to miss him growing up, and that meant that I visited other blogs a lot less for a while, but I think it was worth the trade off. A long time from now, you won’t look back and say “I wish I’d spent more time reading blogs,” you’ll look back and say “I wish we’d had more moments to savor.”
You are so right, and thank you for saying that! I had thought it would be difficult to take a couple days off and detach myself from the computer mostly, but it wasn’t at all, considering what I was doing instead. The pets have to be the priority and I’ll just do what I can when Luke is napping!
OMG! He is precious! Hope you had a very Merry Christmas!
🙂 Thank you, we did, hope you did too!
Ooh, he’s a little cutie! And you really lucked out if he maintains that “settles on his own” habit 😉 Congratulations!
Thank you! Yeah, we’ll see what happens…I’m not sure I believe he’ll continue to settle down so easily! He may just be trying to impress us still. 🙂
Merry Christmas to you and your family, best wishes from Yourspecialdog
Thank you, Merry Christmas to you too!
How wonderful. He sure is a cutie! Merry Christmas to you!
Thank you! Merry Christmas!!
What an adorable and sweet little Christmas present Luke is! I know once everything settles down that the other dogs will learnt to love him – NOBODY can resist a wiggly puppy! Hope your holiday is just as magic as the moment was when you held Luke in your arms and brought him home……..MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Hugs, Pam and Sam
Thank you SO MUCH, Pam and Sam!! We hope you are having a wonderful magical holiday also. Merry Christmas to you!!
Oh my gosh, he’s so adorable! Love that he might have some hound in him! Have a wonderful Christmas!
He’s already showing some hound traits…stubbornness and selective hearing! LOL Merry Christmas to you!
Awwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!! How cute is that!!!!!, congrats to u!
Merry Christmas to u!
((Husky hugz))
Thank you so much, and Merry Christmas and hugs to you too!! 🙂
Congratulations! We are sure that in no time he will be biting the tails of the others and making them crazy. They will give in and love him quickly. Merry Christmas!
Thank you, Emma! We are impatient for everyone to love him, but they are coming around very slowly. In no time we’ll forget all about this adjustment period I’m sure. Merry Christmas to you too!
Oh my dog! He is just SO cute! Squee! What an awesome Christmas gift 🙂 Welcome home little Luke!
PS Just realized that some of the stuff looks like it’s from PetSmart! Shiner loves that abominable snow man dude too. Funny the sweater fits Luke, kind of. I thought a lot of the sweaters ran on the small side myself.
Yes, that is some of the PetSmart stuff! He loves the snow man, and he has Minnie Mouse also. They are as big as he is, but he doesn’t care! The sweater is a bit big on him, but I asked for large stuff since we have all different size dogs….but I think he will grow into it. He needs the sweater since he’s not too thrilled with the cold NH air after being in Alabama!
Thank you, Ann!!!
So glad all went well and you got your xmas bundle of joy. He is priceless. Have a Merry Christmas and have fun with Luke, looking forward to watching him grow.
Thank you! It is going to be so much fun to see what he grows up to look like. He will surely be keeping us busy! Merry Christmas to you also!